Everyone wanted to ask Bo Ryan who was going to replace all the points scored by Brian Butch and Michael Flowers last season. Or who was going to handle the leadership duties in place of the graduated seniors, a group that also includes Greg Stiemsma.

"I get to media day and not one person asked, 'How are you going to replace those guys defensively?'" said an incredulous Ryan, referring to the Big Ten Conference's three-hour media free-for-all in Chicago last month. "A full media day and not one question about it."

If someone had asked, the UW coach was primed to point out that Butch, Flowers and Stiemsma led the Badgers to their best season defensively in program history.

Wisconsin won a school-record 31 games, won Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles and reached the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16, yet an argument could be made that the team's greatest accomplishment was leading the nation in scoring defense (54.4 points per game).

Forget arguing that the Badgers kept scores down because, on offense, they ran down the 35-second clock more than most teams. What makes that scoring-defense stat even more meaningful is that the Badgers also finished fifth in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (38.3).

Wisconsin, Georgetown and VCU were the only teams to finish in the top 10 in both stats and the Badgers earned the overall edge both categories were totaled. Wisconsin earned a trophy from the NCAA for its efforts, which is on display in the program's offices inside the Kohl Center.

Ryan admitted he didn't know the Badgers finished first in the country in any defensive statistics "until we got the award" about six weeks ago. But he knew a long time ago that getting a repeat performance from this year's squad is going to be a daunting task.

In fact, replacing Flowers, Butch and Stiemsma defensively this season may end up being more difficult than it was replacing Alando Tucker's and Kammron Taylor's points last season.

After winning 30 games during the 2006-07 season, "people were scratching their heads with how we got 31 (wins) losing Tucker and Taylor," Ryan said as the Badgers prepare for their season opener Sunday against Long Beach State at the Kohl Center. "It was defensively what we did. That made up for maybe the lack of potent scorers. We had adequate scorers, but, still, defense was what we hung our hat on, as we do every year.

"We don't go out and say, 'Hey, we're pretty good defensively,'" continued Ryan, who said he spends most media days talking about the Badgers' storied swing offense with reporters, "so we just laugh and go, 'OK, what is it about the swing?' But you only win one way. You have to stop people."

A trio stands out

If someone had asked Ryan two weeks ago who he thought was going to replace Flowers' uncanny knack for chasing guards through a maze of screens, Stiemsma's shot blocking and flair for drawing a charge or Butch's ability to hedge on a screen, the UW coach probably would have offered nothing more than a shrug of his shoulders.

A repeat of last year's defensive effort -- which Ryan has placed on the same lofty pedestal as his record-setting 1997 UW-Platteville team that won the NCAA Division III championship -- is most likely out of the question considering that 11 sophomores and freshmen dot the Badgers' roster. However, that doesn't mean this Wisconsin team won't stop people, particularly toward the end of the season.